But by day, he works at the Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, which is where he found himself inspired by the thousands of travellers from around the world. He decided to start photographing travellers in March 2018, which turned into a project named “100 Faces 100 Countries.”

Çankaya’s Instagram for the project is starting to take off, and even though he’s been at it for less than a year, Çankaya has already captured 117 portraits of airport travellers from 77 different countries. His end goal? To have at least 100 countries represented.

Keep scrolling to see some of the project’s most striking portraits, and to learn more about the people in them.

Çankaya’s passion project began in March 2018.

Courtesy Mustafa CankayaMiha from Slovenia.

“I see thousands of different faces passing by every day, from every culture and every part of the world. It is like a treasure for a photographer like me,” he writes.

Beatrice from Sweden was headed to Uganda.

And Khadija arrived in Istanbul from Casablanca, Morocco.

Emmanuel is the second person from Ghana featured in “100 Faces 100 Countries.”

Courtesy Mustafa CankayaEmmanuel from Ghana.

Participants have to be willing to be photographed, of course — and if they say no at first, like Gerd from Denmark, they tend to come around.

Courtesy Mustafa CankayaGerd from Denmark.

“Gerd denied me at our first meeting,” Çankaya writes. “But she had enough time to think about it in Niger, and she liked the idea how the project connects the world. We met again on her way back to Denmark and had enough time for chat and the shoot.”

That is, after all, the purpose of Çankaya’s project: to connect the world.

Courtesy Mustafa CankayaIbrahim Zethy from Rwanda.

And the photographer — and his subjects — certainly have a fun time doing it.